Often, for a science fair, the teacher lets children experiment on their own, as they want their students to jump start their curiosity and look into the world they live in for problems to solve or answers to questions. Sure, it is a lot easier to do home science projects for kids when the teacher spoon feeds the project, tells you what to do and how to do it. It is better for the children to learn to observe their environment on their own and create their own projects. Easy one day science fair projects using everyday things are often a way for the youngest students with short attention spans to learn about how a science fair project works and get results fairly quickly. Even older students can benefit from experiments that can be completed in a short time.
Most science fairs expect the project to be investigatory in nature. Luckily, they are more fun and easiest kind to do. These follow along exactly in the steps of the scientific method: Observe, Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Results. These experiments are the ones where you pose a question, then do a quick investigation which will prove or disprove your theory. These could be fun things like comparing the amount of citrus or Vitamin C in different fruits, timing how long it takes ice to melt in different scenarios, or you might see if the amount of whole wheat affects how long it takes bread to turn to toast. Older students might look at things closer to their interests, like seeing which hair products leaves the least residue, finding out how many germs are on their cell phones or putting pretty much anything in a box and dropping it from a high place, like a roof.
Another kind ofone day, home science projects for kids might involve a demonstration. These are more likely to be part of a class project and not part of a full science fair. For these you are demonstrating how to do something or showing the effect one thing has on another. Demonstrating what happens when you pouring a carbonated drink on a rusty battery, or how to make a solar tea cup heater would fit this category. This is where you will find kids pouring two liquids together to get purple smoke or create some kind of gooey ooze.
These short investigations or demonstrations can provide some oddball and fun looks at things we use everyday. Food is a popular topic and keeps the kids interest, particularly if the project can be eaten when finished! When you are given the opportunity to do a simple one day science fair project, take advantage of it and make it a fun and different twist to the things we see and use every day. Science fair projects can be such a great learning tool!
Here are some great home science project ideas that are designed to use everyday things and can be completed in 24 hours, or a weekend.
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A special thanks to Sue Gnagy Fegan for her contribution of this science project article.
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